Right Thinking from the Left Coast

Tag: Warsame

The hypocrite in chief pinned another merit badge on his sash, this one for authorizing Bush style interrogation techniques, the one area that he has so far remained strident in not buckling on his principals, on a captured terrorist:

The U.S. military captured a Somali terrorism suspect in the Gulf of Aden in April and interrogated him for more than two months aboard a U.S. Navy ship before flying him this week to New York, where he has been indicted on federal charges.

The case represents the Obama administration’s attempt to find a middle ground between open-ended detentions in secret prisons, as practiced by the George W. Bush administration, and its commitment to try as many terrorism cases as possible in civilian courts.

With the capture of Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, the administration appeared to split the difference, with military and intelligence officials interrogating him secretly for two months before bringing in law enforcement officials to question him for purposes of an indictment. He is the first foreign terrorism suspect captured by the administration outside the United States and moved to this country for trial.

In flying Warsame to New York before announcing his capture, the administration circumvented likely congressional objections to his transfer here. Congress has barred the administration from moving detainees held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States for trial.

Pretty sneaky, Mr. President, treating him as an enemy combatant while he gets worked over for information, then changing horses mid stream deciding that now a law enforcement approach fits more into your sense of justice. I told everyone in this thread that for all the grandstanding and demagogueing witnessed over cowboy diplomacy, when push comes to shove, Obama will keep everything on the table when it is his watch. So, instead of giving the captured terrorist a smoke, a soda, a lawyer, and Miranda Rights (more on this later) they keep him on a floating interrogation ship for two months, away from the press and any prying eyes. Once fully squeezed, at this point they Mirandize him, but of course he waives his rights figuring this has got to be some kind of American game where they put the screws to you (bad cop), then got warm and fuzzy with ,”You know, you don’t really have to talk to us, hahahahahahahaha” (good cop). Almost miraculously he goes from enemy combatant to criminal defendant.

True to form, from a guy that needs no congressional authorization for any war he thinks appropriate, he circumvents the fuss over transferring a terrorist suspect to mainland America without getting the proper permits (congressional permission) by sending him over first, then telling folks about it. Naturally, some aren’t too fond of this back door technique.

So now some American city is burdened with providing a show trial,and all the expenses that go with this rodeo, to appease Holder, who never wanted anyone tried by military commissions. Now that they are going the civilian trial route, what information will be allowed and what won’t, I mean, after all, we have rules, anything prior to Miranda is inadmissible in civilian court, do they have enough without the tainted confessions? Oh well, no matter, since Obama has authorized indefinite detention for those lacking in evidence to convict but still too dangerous to release.

Administration officials have argued that military commission jurisdiction is too narrow for some terrorism cases — particularly for a charge of material support for terrorist groups — and the Warsame case appeared to provide an opportunity to try to prove the point

What a bunch of horseshit. We already had a dry run with Hamdan, similar charges, providing material support to terrorists, it worked perfectly, proving that the apparatus is already in place to handle this guy.

This is really boneheaded, and I have little hope of calmer heads prevailing since there is a huge difference between trying a captured terrorist at Gitmo, if he is already at Gitmo, and sending a new internee there now for trial. This would cause every prog’s head in the country to explode, not a bad thing, certainly, but highly unlikely.